


The Law of Tangerines and Hearts

by Pensola



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-17 20:54:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15469854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pensola/pseuds/Pensola
Summary: If nothing had changed, their relationship might have ended when Bell-Mère retired from the Marines. However, where the Will of D. is concerned, a doctor escaping the White City with her two children might change the course and cause their lives to be entangled once more. Perhaps for the better, maybe for nothing.OR: Rosinante stayed with Bell-Mère to raise Nojiko and Nami, and Law, Lammy and their mother fled Flevance four years before the outbreak.





	1. Meet Cute and Meet Death

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [cor cordium](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15259983) by [RememberThePetrichor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RememberThePetrichor/pseuds/RememberThePetrichor). 



> Specifically, inspired by the first chapter of "cor cordium", where I was introduced to the idea of Corazon/Bell-Mère as well as the fact that Bell-Mère, because of her jacket, would have the title of Captain or above. Also, even if I'm done with the Corazon Week 2018 where I made six canon divergences, I wanted to try a multi-chapter one which doesn't necessarily HAVE to end with Corazon being shot dead in the end. Maybe. At least the title does not spoil anything this time.
> 
> Because Law's parents have no name and barely any personalities, they can sort of be considered original characters here, since I will provide that for at least his mother, who I consider to be who Law inherited his D. from. Because not going to lie, I don't think Oda would lose readership if he included a few more female Wills of D. whose biggest achievements were a bit more elaborate than "birth a man's son and die for his angst".
> 
> Also, medical terms, what's that? For any studying or being in the medicine field, I am sorry.

 Rosinante and Bell-Mère met at age 18 and 19 respectively, when Bell-Mère had been given the title of Captain.

Rosinante himself was an ensign, which was still considered impressive at his age. But it was Sengoku who had made him aware of Bell-Mère’s existence and achievements.

"She has been a marine for only two years and already a captain, the youngest in Marine history," he had said, clearly impressed himself. "Make sure to look up to her and respect her; no doubt there will be some back-talk by jealous boy-brats. Silence them if you hear anything bad, she is a formidable woman and a testament to the good side of the Marine. If she plays her cards right, she might receive an admiral rank within ten years."

"Yes, sir," Rosinante had said simply, but eyed the woman in the new captain’s jacket she had received. She let it hang on her shoulders rather than wear it properly, her arms crossed as she walked around proudly and with a confident smile. He momentarily felt his heart skip a beat when her head turned to his direction, which caused him to hit his own head when he saluted her. Hard enough that he fell backwards.

He was not surprised to hear laughter. That came with when one had such clumsy tact as he did. What he had not expected, was for the laughter of this stranger to be boisterous and full of life, without an ounce of malice or mockery. The young woman walked over to the two men and extended a hand to Rosinante.

"Not the worst salutation I've seen in my life," she said with a grin, and with a sheepish, shy smile, Rosinante accepted the hand and got up to his feet. She then turned to Sengoku and did her own salute. "Admiral Sengoku."

"At ease," Sengoku said, nodding. "Have you received your new orders as captain yet?"

"Yes, sir. I will be ship-bound under Vice-Admiral Tsuru, hunting for criminals for the time being, until the higher command has other orders for me."

"That is good," he said, "She is a wise woman, she will teach you the ropes of your new position."

Bell-Mère nodded, her grin still in place. Her eyes shifted quickly over to Rosinante, then back to Sengoku. It seemed the older man caught on, as his arm moved to showcase the blonde.

"This is Ensign Rosinante," he said, deliberately avoiding the surname like he knew the teen preferred, "He has been under my wing and will be assigned to another base soon. As you saw-"

"Admiraaaal!"

Rosinante flinched at the shrieking yell, while Sengoku's nose twitched in annoyance, his smile completely gone. "What?" he grumbled to the marine who ran toward them.

"Uh, um, Admiral Sengoku, something happened to your goat and Vice-Admiral Garp, uh..."

Sengoku rolled his eyes and let the marine lead the way, leaving Rosinante and Bell-Mère alone. Rosinante looked at her shoes, rolling his lower lip slightly inward as he waited to be dismissed. His superior seemed to have different ideas, though.

"So, you're Sengoku's kid, then?" she asked, her back somewhat leaning backward to let her see him better. "I heard he had a foster kid or something who joined the Marine, I guess that's you."

"Yes, ma'am," Rosinante said, and took a quick look into Bell-Mère's eyes. He searched for criticism, for the disapproved assumption of nepotism, but all he got was a whistle.

"Wow, then I get why someone as young as you is an ensign. Anyone raised by that old goat would be strong enough to deserve it, I'm sure." She chuckled before adding, "And so handsome, too. With a bit of makeup you might be a heart stealer."

_Wait, what?_

"Uh, ex-exuse me, ma'am," he began, feeling his face heat up, and he was about to back away before Bell-Mère chuckled again.

"Leave the "ma'am" thing," she said, "I'm barely a year older than you; Desember brat." She winked, but the wink was friendly, not seductive or teasing. It was like they were sharing an absurd secret.

"Ranks aside, what do you say about being friends?" she suggested then, and offered her hand. "I have a feeling the two of us could use each other's support in here. I promise no more sexual harassment."

Rosinante looked down at the extended hand, then back at Bell-Mère, whose eyebrows were still arched humorously at her last comment. He still searched for anything that might betray malice or hidden intentions. He knew Sengoku would like him to befriend more people his own age, as he still had a hard time trusting people and preferred the company of his foster-father and said man's colleagues. So far he had not been quite good at it, always fearing new people changing their minds when hearing about his family, be it Sengoku or the Donquixote name, or that they would somehow transform into the violent silhouettes of his childhood.

Yet, looking into Bell-Mère's eyes, there was something in them that was different. It somehow managed him to both relax and make him uneasy, but he did not know why or how. The only thing he was sure of, was that she seemed trustworthy. And so his hand moved, and they shook hands.

"Name's Bell-Mère," she said with a coy smile, "You can call me that in private."

"Bell-Mere," he tried, attempting a guttural "r" like he thought she had done. He looked embarrassedly back to the woman. "Did I say that right?"

Bell-Mère laughed and patted his shoulder. "Close enough," she said, smiling. "Don’t worry, the "r" from my part of East Blue isn’t easy unless you grew up there. Just say it like you normally would, I don't mind."

"I would like to say it right." He widened his eyes slightly when he realized what he had said, and coughed to have an excuse to look away. Thankfully, Bell-Mère only smiled at him. He gathered himself up and spoke again.

"I'm Rosinante," he said, omitting his family name like he preferred, and like Bell-Mère had done with her introduction. "You can also use it in private, if you want to."

The two of them smiled at each other, Bell-Mère's full of life while Rosinante's was more subdued.

"So, Rosinante," she said, rolling the "r" in his name deliberately thick, which made his smile widen ever so much in humor, "do you smoke?"

\--------------------

"Sweetheart, Lammy said you were taking blood from her and Law, is something wrong?"

The blonde Flevance doctor looked up from her stereoscope and carefully removed her glasses to look at her husband. She had told the children to not tell their father about the tests yet, but then again she supposed that she had not done a good enough job explaining why. Law, despite being only five, was surprisingly intelligent and understanding for his age, and had just nodded. But Lammy had been more confused, and the mother sighed at her own mistake. Of course the girl would look for answers.

"I was going to ask for your opinion tomorrow, honey," she explained, and moved slightly away from her desk. "Since you're here, could you take a look at this?" She gestured to the stereoscope. The husband walked to her side and looked for some seconds before he turned back to her.

"Whose is this?" he asked.

"That's from one of the retired miners that died last month, age 78," she replied. "Remember the weird complexion he had? I had never seen something like that before, so I did a test just to be sure, but..." She showed other blood samples.

"Here is the blood of our neighbors, who moved here ten years ago, and the blood of their daughter, age five. And here is my blood, and Lammy and Law's."

The husband dutifully looked through all the samples quietly. He was the more experienced doctor, but she had a knack for researching and he knew to trust her when she showed him her findings, no matter how vague she could be about it.

When he was done, he looked quickly at the names and ages of the people, as well as the notes his wife had written down.

They locked eyes.

"The amount is different, but they all have the same toxic signs," he said, frowning. The wife nodded with a bit lip.

"The retired miner had a lot of the toxicity in his blood, but both I and the kids have a high amount, as well. However, the neighbor's daughter has only a little, barely more than her parents, even if they have been here twice as long as she's been alive." She sighed. "Your father was a miner, too, right? I am thinking, if we look at your blood, you might also have a high amount of the toxicity as us, maybe even higher."

The husband's face turned pale as he listened. Then he hurried to extract a little of his blood, put it between glasses and checked the stereoscope again. The way his body stiffened made it clear to the wife that her theory might have ground.

"I want to collect some more samples, especially from amber lead miners and craftsmen, before I conclude anything," she said carefully. "But what do you think?"

"I think," the husband of the Trafalgar family whispered heavily, "that for some reason, Flevance is living and breathing in poison."

 


	2. Smoky Lips and Sealed Lips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They had one year to grow into a rocky relationship, or to figure out how to save a country.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention the Trafalgar parents' names during the first chapter: The mother is Dans, the father Galen. Dans' secret name will be revealed later.

They had only one year, but what a year it had been.

\-----------

In October, Rosinante felt like Bell-Mère's grin and laughter was a bit more subdued, which she apparently credited Vice-Admiral Tsuru for.

"Apparently she didn't like my attitude at all, nor all the fights I might have not _started_ , mind you, but maybe pushed for. She left me hanging  _so many times_."

At that, Bell-Mère had raised her eyebrow in expectation, waiting or a reaction. Rosinante blinked.

"Hanging?" She tried again. "You know, because of her devil fruit? She hanged me up to dry off my aggression all the time?"

Rosinante did not find the joke that funny, but the way the redhead's eyes still shined in pride had him at least make an effort. So with the most awkward face of all, he opened his mouth and laughed, "Ha ha ha...!"

Which made Bell-Mère laugh right back up and tell him not to worry. They walked out to the deserted smoking area Bell-Mère had made Rosinante reveal to him, knowing he probably knew of a place to be alone, brood and probably set himself on fire. She had already seen him do that a couple of times, so this time she snatched the lighter from his hand and helped him light his cigarette before she did her own, noting how he tried very hard not to let her gesture affect him. Despite his tomato-red face and still wide eyes.

It was amazing how small gestures from her would make Sengoku's kid, famous for having the most stoic and bland face even when making a fool out of himself, would cause him to show his emotions like an open book.

They stood like that for a while, smoking and calming down, before Bell-Mère decided to tell him about her latest mission with Vice-Admiral Tsuru that had involved a pirate ship.

 

"You should have seen him," Bell-Mère laughed. "He looked so frightened, the poor boy! He just threw the devil fruit at me and begged me to have mercy!"

"Did you let him go?"

"Of course not, but he seemed like he was a cabin boy, barely sixteen, so I didn't beat him up or anything. Also, when he wasn't wetting himself, he had manners, which his superiors didn't have. Now _them_ , I did beat up."

Rosinante chuckled lightly, an act Bell-Mère knew meant a lot considering how quiet he was. He then asked, "What did you do with the fruit he gave you?"

"Well, we followed regulation, so it is probably in the storage for devil fruits right now."

Rosinante remembered Sengoku talk about her achieving Admiral rank in the foreseeable future, and considered how the majority of admirals were fruit users.

"Did you want to eat it, though?" he asked cautiously.

"Hell no, I don't want want any devil fruit," she said, waving her hand as if to banish the thought. "Besides, the fruit is apparently a paramecia that makes things silent. Can you imagine all the jokes if a woman ate it? "Woman should be seen and not heard" and all that crap, pah."

Rosinante smiled apologetically and nodded. He could not comment much on the topic considering his gender, but he was well aware of how even Vice-Admiral Tsuru would have a comment now and then thrown her way regarding women and laundry.

"Anyway," Bell-Mère said and changed the tone, "I know I promised no harassment, but I can't help but notice your face has changed slightly. Are you using makeup?"

He felt his face get warm, and he looked away.

"It looks good," Bell-Mère said, her face genuine.

 

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Bell-Mère."

"Bell-Mere," he corrected, but bit his lip when he still could not say the name properly. "Sorry."

She only smiled.

\--------------

In November, The Trafalgar doctors had come to a conclusion for their research.

"Dans," the husband said gravely, "this is bad."

Dans turned to her husband Galen, and nodded with a sigh. Bad was putting it lightly. After months of researching, they had come to some grave conclusions regarding Flevance's famous amber lead. In particular that its toxicity not only slowly poisoned the people living here, but also children, who inherited the same amount of toxicity as their parents, and they were all slowly dying. The retired miner had been a preview, his own disease developing quicker because he was the oldest amber lead miner alive, and had been in contact with amber lead for as long as he possibly could, wanting to provide for his family.

The Trafalgars had gotten rid of anything with an ounce of amber lead in their house after that.

"We need to inform the country," Dans said at last.

\--------------

In Desember, Bell-Mère flicked at his forehead.

"You're too tall!" she said, and he looked down at her. His hand caressed the spot she had flicked, his eyes wide as if he had been slapped, and his mouth agape. "How many growth spurts are men supposed to have? Do you have giant ancestry or something? Worst birthday surprise ever!"

He stuttered and flailed, trying to make sense of the scene she had caused.

"S-sorry?" he tried. "I-I'll bend my back a little forward, see? Then I'm a bit shorter, if you want to- I mean, that is, I didn't think I was that big- I mean-"

It was the first time most of the people that watched them had seen Rosinante, a man who had a straight face even after the most humiliating clumsy incident, panic and make exasperated faces. Bell-Mère had seen it before, in particular when there were children in place, and how his heart practically shattered to pieces when they ran away from him. Even with the little make-up she convinced him to wear and his handsome features, his neutral facial expressions might not work well with children.

Still, it was nice to see that he was slowly relaxing, as he would never have shown this part of himself in public before. And Bell-Mère, casual as she was about their relationship - friendship - felt a bit proud at the thought that she might have helped him loosen up a little.

Their eyes locked for a couple of seconds, before they both laughed.

"Seriously, though," Bell-Mère said afterward, "you better not reach three meters, got it?"

\---------------

In January, they slept together.

It had been both a spontaneous moment, as well as something they both knew had been in the making for a while. And it had been awkward, and weird, and wonderful. Bell-Mère might have experience where Rosinante was lacking, but it was also her first time... leading, as it were. She was not sure why she was even surprised Rosinante would like to be guided and lead through.

"I still can't believe I was your first," Bell-Mère said while helping Rosinante light his cigarette, both laying in bed covered only by the blanket. It might be fatigue or the afterglow, but Rosinante swore she sounded a little shy. "You're so tall, and handsome, musculous... muscly? And handsome, even if you are clumsier than a child learning to walk. I thought some girls would find that attractive."

"Like you?" Rosinante suggested, which earned him a laugh. She leaned over to him, though made sure her hair was safe from his cigarette as possible. They sat like that for a while, Bell-Mère thinking about role reversals, positions and eventually gender expectations, when a thought hit her.

"Sengoku isn't gonna kill me for taking his kid's virginity, is he?"

\--------------

In February, Dans read the local newspapers.

"...She's dead," she gasped.

"Who?" her husband asked, but looking at the falling complexion of his wife, he was starting to have an idea.

"Your friend, from Amber News who said she'd write an article about the amber lead poison," she said and handed him the paper. "They have small part of the page dedicated to her. Said she died in her sleep yesterday."

He read through it, and she saw how his breath became heavier and irregular.

"She was healthy," he murmured.

"Yes."

"It is impossible for her to have died by what they claim in the paper."

"I know."

He sat down on a chair, seemingly looking at his wife, but really at nothing. Dans knew why, having mourned lost friends before. But she had other worries. An audience with the King was not an option, as he had been refusing them and his messengers had called them overworked and confused. The police also seemed to ignore them. And now, the one person who was willing to publish anything about their findings was found dead.

They knew what that implied.

\--------------

In March, Bell-Mère mentioned Donquixote Doflamingo.

"I'll be going to East Blue with my own crew," she said casually as they walked with their food in the cafeteria. "Tsuru thinks I am finally ready to leave her wing and get some more experience elsewhere. Also, she will be spending a lot of time in North Blue chasing another pirate."

"They assigned Vice-Admiral Tsuru to hunt one pirate crew?" Rosinante asked, though his eyes were on the food and his feet, not wanting to make a fool out of himself by tripping and having his face land on the soup, again.

"Well, not just him, but apparantly the higher-ups find this guy dangerous enough to have an admiral be on the lookout. You read about him in the newspapers, right? He was on the front page on the WEJ two days ago. Doflamingo-"

_Donquixote Doflamingo, captain of the Donquixote Family, raids island with no survivors._

His brother's wanted poster face appeared before his eyes, and the sound of glass breaking and his food board meeting the floor was vaguely heard. His eyes were unfocused, though he knew his hands were shaking, and he held them together as if to get control back.

"...Oh, Rosinante, always so clumsy," he vaguely heard Bell-Mère say beside him, a little too loud as if she spoke to an audience. "At least you didn't fall and got your face into the soup this time, huh? Hey, cadet, clean this up, will you? Thanks."

He felt her hands on his shoulders, leading him out of the cafeteria in a hurry, and he let her. He was not sure where she was taking her, but when she said his name and he blinked, he was by the barracks.

"Are you okay?" Bell-Mère said, concern written all over her face. And Rosinante was not fine, but he did not want to tell her that. Instead he was simply quiet, searching her eyes.

It was impossible for her to not know his family name, he knew that, even if she referred to him by his given name at all times. He had no idea how much she knew, only that he could not speak about it. It was not like he did not hear about it every now and then, behind his back. People asking about his family or his resemblance to the pirate captain. Most people fortunately found him too weird to take seriously, and Rosinante had to admit he did not care about what they thought anyway. Despite Sengoku's relief that he had become more outspoken and social, he was still a long while to go, apparently.

But he both wanted to tell Bell-Mère about it all, to let her know everything about him and have her accept him regardless, and wanted to keep quiet and hide himself, like he always did. And the contradictions confused him.

Bell-Mère looked back at him, not letting go of her concern, but Rosinante saw something else in her eyes as well. Understanding.

"I'm fine," he mumbled, and moved so they were no longer touching. "I guess I was just tired, I'll go and rest. Sorry you had to help me."

She obviously had more she wanted to say, but she bit her lip and turned to leave. However, she whispered something first.

"I'm sorry."

\---------------

In April, the Trafalgar couple agreed to separate.

"We have to leave," Dans said when the children were safely in bed one night. "The news won't publish anything, the research facility won't listen, and His Majesty the King refuses an audience."

Her husband was looking at her from the couch, leaning his elbows onto his knees.

"What do you suppose running away will do?" he asked, exhausted. Dans scoffed.

"If this is truly a conspiracy, then we cannot rely on anyone within Flevance to help us," she said. "If we want to have any success on forcing the government to stop the production of amber lead, we need the rest of the world to put pressure on them. We should get these results to the WEJ. The buzz around a corrupt kingdom that is poisoning its own people might do something."

"Like what, Dans?" he asked, the idea of the World Economic Journal helping them not sitting well with him, and she frowned at the way he said her name.

"Neighbor kingdsoms and other trading allies might stop trading due to the breech on moral integrity," she said, moving her hands from one side to the other, "and the people of Flevance might strike or at least not live on ignorance anymore. Hell, maybe pirates will come over and liberate us or something, I don't know!"

He just looked exasperated at her, like she was a child.

"There are no guarantees that the people that Flevance trades with has the morals to stop trading and help people they have no responsibility for," he said back, "Even if the people stop mining, or protest, that might just put them in danger, if they even choose to listen at all. And... pirates, Dans? Do you really think pirates would be of any help here?"

"Well, _someone_ has to think of things to do about this," Dans snapped. "The country is being poisoned alive, the government is most likely aware of this and do nothing and, if my calculations are right, the majority of the people will show signs of the disease within five years! Imagine the panic that will spread if that happens without warning!"

"How are you so sure that they won't stop you in the WEJ?"

"Flevance is the only place with amber lead, so the conspiracy is probably limited to North Blue. We'll go to another sea, like East Blue, and to its chapter of the Journal."

"That is too far and too dangerous for little chance of success, Dans."

"Honey, they killed your friend so she wouldn't publish anything, what makes you think they would spare us if we stayed? We need to make a scene to force the world to watch Flevance, and then stay away to avoid being hunted!"

"Is this one of your D. things, Dans? Do you absolutely have to make a big scene and topple a peaceful kingdom like this?"

"No! Yes? Maybe!" Dans turned around and groaned frustrated, her hands covering her face. "I don't know, okay? And does it matter, really?"

She sighed, and looked over to her husband. After some moments of silence, he broke contact. She sat down with him and gently put her hand on his knee.

"Even if it is a long shot, even if we only save a few of our people, is that not our duty as doctors?" Dans asked lowly, leaning down to get a look at his bowed head. "To do everything we can, when we can?"

He looked back at her, and she let herself smile slightly, which he mirrored. Then he sighed.

"Take the children," he said. Dans frowned.

"Honey..."

"It might be suspicious if the entire family, with the country's two best doctors, leave Flevance at once," he said quickly. "Also, it is mainly _your_ research, so you have to be the one to convince the WEJ or anyone else of what is going on."

"What about you, then?"

He looked forward, his smile gone but his eyes with new determination. "I will stay in the hospital and help as much as I can. If your theory is correct, more people will show up soon with the symptoms of the disease. I might be able to keep things from escalating from panic early, at least, if I can't find any cure."

He slowly put a hand over the one she had on his knee. She sighed, but leaned into his shoulder.

"Tomorrow," she whispered, "I will go to the embassy and prepare the travel papers."

\---------------

In May, Bell-Mère was assigned a more permanent post in East Blue.

"I guess it'll be a while until we see each other again," Bell-Mère said. She tried to force an assured grin, but it did not reach her eyes. Rosinante smiled in his own, subdued way and avoided her eyes.

She felt a slight pang of regret in her heart despite herself. They had yet to seriously talk about where their relationship was going, especially not after the scene he made in the cafeteria. It was like everything had been put on pause, at least for him, where he attempted to avoid her (though she could clearly hear him fall every time he turned to a direction from her), and she felt out of place, not sure if she should be her bold self and force him to open up, or give him space and risk him stay quiet and passive. Which, considering her past pace concerning relationships, might put what they had in jeopardy.

And while she had seldom felt much beyond an "oh, well" during previous break-ups, the thought of ending this one - whatever it was, whatever it might become - made her heart sink.

Bell-Mère was no fool, she knew he had to have ties with Doflamingo, with a reaction like what he had had, and the other girls had been asking her before about him, due to his closed-off persona.

_"It makes sense if he wants to hide it," one of the girls had said, "Vice-Admiral Monkey was already a high-ranked marine when his son turned into a criminal, but it is hard for criminal's relatives to be in the marine since espionage is suspected."_

_"I think he's just scared of what_ Bell-Mere _will think," another girl said, blinking over at her senior. "He obviously has a huge crush on you, but he knows you don't like criminals or bad pirates, so he's probably afraid of what you'll think about the in-laws."_

Bell-Mère found herself chuckling slightly at the memory, and gently took Rosinante's hand. His face turned red.

"Hey," she said, and her other hand reached for Rosinante's cheek, guiding him to look at her. "Next time we meet, you'll be a lieutenant, right? I heard from Tsuru."

Rosinante's lips twitched upward ever so little, but he said nothing.

"I guess we'll have a lot to talk about when I return," she said, a slight hope in her voice.

"Yes," the blonde said lowly, "a lot."

It was soon time for her to leave. Rosinante stood still as a statue, but as their eyes were meeting, Bell-Mère recognized the want in his eyes, and the hesitation. The question.

He had never been one to take action, she knew that. She had never minded taking the initiative in the relationship, anyway. So with a smile, she grabbed his collar, stood on her toes and dragged him down so their lips met. He had been waiting for this, and with the ghost of a smile, leaned in.

When they met each other again, she decided, they would have a serious talk about where they wanted to take their relationship.

\------------------

In June, Dans left Galen in Flevance.

"How long will be be gone, Mother?" Lammy had asked as they packed the last of the bags.

"Some months, Lammy, darling," Dans answered carefully, closing one coffin. "Your father will stay here and keep working, while we travel. You did say you wanted to see how other islands celebrated cultural festivals, right?"

"Yeah!" Lammy said, grinning at the prospect. Law, six years old, observed them quietly by the door.

"Law, have you finished packing?" the mother asked.

"I am not leaving," he said, "I will stay with Father."

Dans fought a sigh. They had talked about this before, but it felt like every time she and her husband thought they had convinced Law, he changed his mind back again.

"Law," she said, approaching him and kneeling to be closer to his level, "Remember what your father and I said? You might be able to learn new things in medicine by traveling more, the world has so much more to offer than just Flevance."

Law was quiet, just staring at her with a worried frown. He might be terrifyingly intelligent for his age, but he was still a child and could not hide the anxious glint in his eyes. He looked down. Dans turned over to Lammy.

"Lammy," she said, "I will help Law get his things, can you be alone for a while?"

"Yes, Mother!" the girl said, though she was already occupied with her dolls, negotiating with them about who would join her on the voyage and who had to stay and watch over Father. With a humorous sigh, Dans took Law's hand and guided him to his room, where she gently closed the door.

"Law, what is wrong?" she asked, smiling as she cupped his face.

"...Are you and Father separating?" he asked, and Dans widened her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" she blurted out, not meaning to sound as shocked as she did.

"You're always fighting," he began, now looking nervous, "And you're never home at the same time anymore. You're taking Lammy and me away with all our things, and I saw how much money you'll bring. That's too much for just a vacation or voyage or whatever."

"Oh, Law, honey," Dans said, fighting tears as she hugged her son. "No, no, no, I am so sorry, Law. We had no idea you would take it that way, we should have been handling this all better. I'm so sorry."

Law blinked and swallowed air. His hands curled into fists.

"Then why are we leaving Father?" he asked.

"It's... Law, your father and I have been conducting research, and..." She bit her lower lip, "and Flevance is not ready for it yet. So we thought I could take the results somewhere else where they might make use of it. And we thought it was a good idea to take the two of you with us."

"...And father is staying behind to watch over the hospital?"

"Exactly. You know your father is the best doctor in Flevance, maybe the entire world. He would never leave his patients, so he said he could stay while we go."

Law looked down, still not quite convinced. Dans bit her lip again, but decided to use her last card.

"Hey, without your father, you'll be the man of the family," she said, and Law looked back up at her, slightly confused, but interested in the unspoken challenge. "So we need you with us, all right? To watch over Lammy."

She disliked using the "man of the house" card on Law, not only because she thought it unnecessary most of the time, but also because, contrary to Galen's opinion, he was way too young to have such expectations put on him. However, at the mention of Lammy, he blinked, and the confusion and hesitation always disappeared. A big brother to the core, he seemed to thrive in taking responsibility and protect his loved ones. It made Dans smile. Law would become a great doctor one day.

If they survived, that is.

"...Okay," Law said finally, nodding. Dans gave him a peck on his forehead, and helped him carry his finished baggage (despite his protests, he had already finished packing, that precious boy).

Dans picked up Lammy and her things, and they met Galen by the door out of the house. He took his time to say goodbye to the children, gave them hugs and kisses and soothing lies about meeting them again soon.

Finally, it was time for the husband and wife.

He gave her a tight, long hug, kissed the skin in front of her ear, and whispered,

"I love you, Trafalgar... Dans."

A pang of guilt hit Dans. Guilty for involving her husband in the Will of D., for forcing to hide things from him for so long, to make him unable to say her real name out loud. But it also made her love him even more, knowing that despite it all, despite the burden one met by becoming family with a D., he had remained.

"I love you too," she whispered back, "Trafalgar Galen."

With a smile forced on her face, she led her two children to the station.

 

\--------------

In July, Rosinante heard reports from the area Bell-Mère had been stationed in. A battle had broken out between the Marines and pirates.

No survivors.


	3. Loose Lips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The quiet before the destiny-changing storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Forgot the last part of the chapter, or, I decided that the end of the chapter was the better place to have it than at the beginning of the next.

The first thing Dans did when they were far enough away from Flevance, was to rent a bathtub's worth of boiling water, and threw everything they brought in it.

"Why?" Law asked, leaving Lammy to convince her two dolls that the bath would not scald them alive or melt them. Well, there were actually three dolls, but their mother did not need to know about the stowaway princess who ran away from her conquered kingdom to save it from the outside. He was sworn into secrecy by a _royal decree_ , after all.

He looked up at his mother as she place another log onto the fire underneath. They were in a locked area, and Dans had bought some new, cheap clothes for them to wear as soon as everyone had taken a shower so hot Law only kept from complaining by reciting how to treat first-degree burns in his head.

"Mother," he tried again when she ignored them, "the clothes were all clean, why are we cleaning them again?"

Dans blinked and looked at her son, who was unconsciously scratching his arms due to the unfamiliar material on his body. She forced a smile.

"Do you remember how all the children at your school and at Lammy's kindergarten were sick?" she asked, and Law nodded. "Well, sometimes illnesses like that are local, and travel through hosts like people or the materials they bring with them. So just in case, we will wash ourselves and our luggage with boiling water; the heat will kill off the bacteria, you see. We wouldn't want to bring with us the illness and cause an epidemic, would we?"

It was partially true, after all. Dans was 97% sure that the amber lead disease was not contagious after the various tests she had done. However, close proximity to amber lead, maybe even fragments and dust from it, might still affect the Trafalgar family, who were already infected enough as it was. Not to mentioned Dans did not want to risk exposing anyone else to the illness. Thus, just in case the water they had used in their home to wash everything had fragments of amber lead in them, she wanted to do it a second time.

"I thought we just had the cold," Law mumbled, and Dans almost twitched her eye at her son's memory and smarts.

"Well, it never hurts to be sure, Law, in case it spreads and kills everyone" she tried and pet his head, which he recoiled from embarrassed before he left to check on Lammy. Dans sighed relieved. Another problem temporarily down. Now she just had to figure out what to do about the rest of the journey.

During the months it took to receive permission to go on a holiday, the Trafalgar couple had done the research they could about cross-oceanic travels. It was not easy to begin with, considering they needed to cross the Red Line, but there were several officially government-sanctioned transportation means to cross the four Blues. Only problem was, apparently North-East Blues had been cancelled for the coming months, because apparently everything had to go wrong for them.

Thus, she had to go and find other ways to East Blue, as they could not wait months on their current island. From what she had gathered, the best bet currently was to travel between the islands to where the North Blue Marine base was stationed. The innkeeper had said that sometimes marine ships would take in people during their travels, either for a fee, to show kindness if they had been victims of a pirate attack, or to protect their image.

It was their best bet; it would take three weeks from here to the Marine base if they got on one of the innkeeper's trading partners in the morning, and even if it would take longer than the traveling ships to start going again, they would still stop by the marine base's island before crossing the Red Line, so she could still make it with them.

Dans looked over at her beautiful children. Law pretended to heal one of Lammy's dolls, the one who was a girl raised by sea kings on the search for her human parents, and had been attacked while on the search for the Shark-Shark Fruit. Which, due to sharks' aquatic nature, Dans had the vague feeling did not exist.

Yet, she smiled before going back to washing their things. They would be fine. She would make sure of it.

When the Trafalgars left the next day, Lammy was explaining how a deadly epidemic was suddenly incorporated into her dolls' story, and Dans wanted to slap herself for not watching her mouth better around the girl.

\----------------------

"Are you really sure you're up for this?"

"For the last time," Bell-Mère snapped, though she had lowered her voice halfway, "yes, I am, and the girls will be _fine_." She quickly checked on Nojiko sleeping on the couch, if her voice had awakened her. Fortunately, the bluehead was still asleep.

The woman who had asked her, Nounou, looked at her with a mix of doubt and uncertainty. Bell-Mère was starting to regret asking the woman for help regarding child-raising, though it was not like she had had much of a choice; the hag had taken one look at how she changed Nami's sullied diapers and demanded her to join her to her home so she could teach her.

"I'm not just talking about the girls," she said while rocking the sleeping Nami. "What about you? I've known you since you were a wee brat, Bell-Mère, and you have always liked to be independent and free from responsibility. Now you suddenly have two children you have to watch over and-, I know you were a captain, girl, but you were ordering around grown men, you didn't have to raise them and certainly not change their diapers. It is difficult enough for a woman to take care of one child, and you have two, with no time to prepare."

Bell-Mère bit her tongue to stop herself from letting out some _choice words_.

" _Also_ , you said you called the Marines and retired? What will you do with money, girl? You can't live off on Genzo forever."

"Sure I can," the redhead said, a smirk creeping up at the mention of her old friend. "That man _lives_ to be used by me."

She winked to Nounou, her eyebrows raised waiting for the laughter. Nounou just glared at her, and Bell-Mère sighed.  _Old hag's got no sense of humor._

"I heard the tangerine farm of ol' Vieil is up for sale," she spoke now, her voice quiet in respect for the kind woman. "I was thinking, since we were sort of close while she was alive and her kids don't want it, I could, you know, take it over."

Nounou frowned, but her eyes spoke of sorrow and sympathy. "Sort of close" did not even cover the utter adoration Bell-Mère had had for Vieil-Amour up the hill, nor the love the woman had in return for Bell-Mère. However, out loud she said,

"The farm hasn't been taken care of since she passed. You can't afford to fix the house and raise the tangerines back up again."

"I'll get money from the Marines," Bell-Mère said quickly, "They said I'll get a medal of valor and stuff, and that often comes with a raise or money. And I'll get compensated for the false K.I.A. report they initially gave, and-"

"All right, all right," Nounou said, waving her hand to make the young woman shut up. "I'll find Vieil-Amour's relatives and talk to them later today. Last I heard the price for the farm was pretty low since there are too many tangerine farms to make big profits."

"Thank you," Bell-Mère said and gave a quick nod and smiled. She had never really given the idea of staying in one place for a job a serious thought before, but she had always known that if she  _had_ to stay still and take up roots, Vieil-Amour's home had been where she wanted to be. The thought that the old woman's legacy would be continued through her and Nojiko and Nami, when her own family had abandoned the farm, excited her in ways she could not describe yet.

"What will _you_ do, though?" Bell-Mère blinked as she got back to the present, and saw Nounou watch her.

"Are you sure you will be all right?" she clarified. "You'll be a single mother, and unmarried, at that. For now you have Genzo, the doctor and their wives to help you, but if you move out of the town you'll be isolated. Not to mention that you'll have a harder time finding a husband to help."

"I was alone with Nojiko and Nami on a war-torn island, on a boat and then through a raging storm," Bell-Mère said simply with a confident grin, feeling a bit (a lot) of pride over the fact. "I'll manage with them now that we're home. Also, it's not like I had any plans of marrying anyway, I'll be fine on my own."

"What about the young man from the Marines?"

Bell-Mère blinked, her prideful grin frozen in confusion.

"The giant klutz?" Nounou tried again. "Fille-Bavarde said you two had a  _special_ relationship, and you didn't talk about him like your other _endeavors_  whenever the two of you spoke in the telesnail. She said you thought he might be _the one_."

 _Fille-Bavarde, I swear to god,_ Bell-Mère though, somehow still surprised by her friend's loose lips,  _I'll never tell you anything again_. 

"Well?"

"First off," Bell-Mère started, too loud before she lowered her voice again when Nami moved in Nounou's arms, "I _never_ said he might be "the one" or anything, and second..."

_"I will never have children."_

_Bell-Mère looked over at Rosinante, who had spoken after letting out a cloud of smoke from his lips. They were on the beach, Bell-Mère with her favorite beer and Rosinante with his preferred red wine._

_"Oh, really?" she said and leaned forward with a smirk; she loved intoxicated Rosinante, if only because a small part of his incredibly dense filter was removed and he would say silly things at random. Sometimes it was simply complimenting her, other times it was him challenging gossiping brats to protect her honor as captain. A rare time it became something more, something personal, like now._

_"But you like kids, don't you?"_

_"I_ love  _kids!" he shouted suddenly, and with a laugh Bell-Mère brought her beer can to meet his offered glass. Apparently that was something to cheer for._

_He emptied his glass, leaning backward so much he eventually fell on his back. Whatever was left of the wine in the glass spilled over the sand. Some of said sand also fell into the glass, which would give him a surprise when he tried to drink again later._

_"...But I don't want to continue my family," he said not long after, his energy from before gone as suddenly as it came. Bell-Mère looked down at where he laid, and saw his eyes distant, another place. Almost as if he was not talking to her. "Our blood, our legacy... it should end with us, don't you think?"_

"...He doesn't want kids," the redhead said at last in the present. She was frowning, but her eyes spoke of sadness at the memory she had never thought seriously about before Nojiko and Nami came to her life.

"Ah," was all Nounou said, as if that explained it all, and did not mention the klutz again.

\----------------------

Sengoku was honestly at a loss with what to do with Rosinante.

He remembered about a six months ago, when he heard reports from his colleague that Rosinante was doing well. Talking with the boy gave him the impression that he was doing more than well, that his mood was ever so lighter, and he was laughing on a regular basis. Almost once per _day_ , sometimes even  _twice_!

And Sengoku had given Captain Bell-Mère most of the credit. He was happy with himself for telling Rosinante to keep an eye on her and look up to her, it seemed to have done him a lot of good. Sure, the Admiral was not fond of the way Bell-Mère conducted herself at times or chose to express her disagreements, but her outgoing personality had been good for Rosinante.

That was why the report of her station being wiped out along with the clashing pirates had understandably hit his foster-son hard. So hard it felt like any progress was reverted back to zero, if not going in negative numbers. He apparently fell more often, he stopped eating, and while he had quieted down like he used to be, he seemed to show a temper Sengoku was not sure he had seen since the Rosinante entered rebellious teens. A temper he knew very well Rosinante normally worked hard to keep down.

Sengoku looked at the corner of his office, where Rosinante, on his time off, was sitting and feeding the goat. The admiral was not sure if it was all because of Bell-Mère's death. After all, they were apparently friendly, and yes, she had definitely been good for him, but would her death cause this sort of reaction? Or had he underestimated his emotional stability regarding the prospect of death?

The old man felt horrible at the thought that the captain's demise had triggered unhappy memories for Rosinante. If that was the case, perhaps he should not have supported the boy's ambition to join the Marines after all. Too much death would occur, and many victims would be people he knew. If he struggled with the idea of losing colleagues, superiors or friends...

The door slammed open, and while Rosinante got frightened enough to fall, Sengoku hurried to hide his rice cakes and prepared to come with an excuse until he saw who was entering.

"Tsuru," he said, relieved and brought his cakes back. She just glared at him before sitting down in front of his desk. At Rosinante's salute, she just waved him off.

"You have a habit of wasting my time, Sengoku," she said with a sigh. He watched her, waiting for her to elaborate. When she did not speak anymore, he blinked.

"What did I do this time?" he asked. Tsuru crossed one leg over the other.

"You remember the youngest captain I watched over for a while? Bell-Mere, who died last month?"

Sengoku shot a quick look over at Rosinante, who kept feeding the goat as if he had heard nothing.

"What about her?"

"Well, she's alive."

Sengoku watched as Rosinante lost hold of the goat feed, completely frozen. He himself had widened his eyes at what Tsuru said.

"What do you mean?" he asked, rising from his chair. "The scouts reported no survivors!"

"Well, apparently the scouts are bad at their job," Tsuru snapped. "And sit down again, fool, I'm not done talking. She apparently survived and got to her home island, and managed to contact the Marines on an old telesnail owned by the mayor. Got to one of my women after a while."

"That's... that's good, though!" Sengoku said, and he meant it. Years being a fleet admiral, and years of working in the Marines, had given him his fair share of deaths, and news of surprise survivors were too rare. "We need to prepare a ceremony, and give her a medal of valor, and other honors! When is she coming back to base?"

"That's just it," Tsuru sighed. "She didn't call just to inform us she survived. She called to say she is retiring."

"WHAT?"

"I told her she was a rare talent and that I had spent too much of my time mentoring her for the Marines to just let her go," the vice-admiral continued, "but she seemed determined."

"Hmm..." Sengoku leaned forward, thinking about her sentiments. Usually the higher-ups would be up in arms regarding letting go of a rare talent like Bell-Mère. It had happened in the past that a highly promising soldier who wanted to quit was practically forced to continue. Hell, he had been one of the people who had stared at a homesick man with eyes haunted by the nightmares he had seen and committed, and damn near threatened his family to make him stay, per orders from above. It was one of the many parts Sengoku hated about being a leader for the Marines.

However, the main difference between those men and Bell-Mère were that Bell-Mère was a woman. Even as she became the youngest captain in history, not many had been excited or optimistic about the fact, compared to the previously youngest captain. When there were talks about her getting a mentor, nobody stepped up, and in the end Tsuru had slammed the table and said, as she had already mentored one stellar female vice-admiral, she might as well take in a new disciple. And through the year where Bell-Mère had continued to grow and show great promise, people were still just mumbling and nodding.

" _Give her five years, she will find a man and retire and this will all have been a waste of time,_ " some had said.

Sengoku sighed as he remembered some of the remarks people had let out during meetings or gatherings. He had the distinct feeling that the Marines would not be terribly unhappy about the loss of this distinguishable woman.

"Well, what will you do, Vice-Admiral?" Sengoku asked, and looked into Tsuru's glaring eyes. But though they were obviously annoyed and in a foul mood, the glint of empathy revealed her intentions before she even spoke of them.

"If she made her choice and you are asking me, I think it is already settled," she said and shrugged. "Damn it, Sengoku, you know I hate to waste time and resources, and now a year of mentorship is just gone. What will the others say when they hear they were right about her leaving? It was bad enough when Gion merely asked for maternity leave, but at least she came back. This one just up and left."

Sengoku opened his mouth to argue, that at least Bell-Mère had not resigned to marry or to have kids, but then a quiet, calm voice interrupted him.

"Vice-Admiral Tsuru, ma'am?"

The two adults turned to look at Rosinante, who had been so quiet they had almost forgotten he was there. But he was standing up now, looking at Tsuru with arched eyebrows.

"Did she... I mean, did Captain Bell-Mère say anything else, ma'am? About... anything else?"

Tsuru looked long and hard into the boy's eyes, apparently looking at something Sengoku could not see. He did notice something in the corner of Tsuru's eyes, though. Pity.

"No," she said at last, not looking away from Rosinante, "she did not."

She turned the rest of her body toward him before speaking again.

"I actually came here for another thing," she said. "Bell-Mere had some things left behind that she asked my women to bring, but Sengoku is right that she still deserves medals for her services. The brat said to drop the ceremony and just mail anything, but if someone like her is quitting, after what she went through, I say at least someone she knew should bring them to her, personally."

She watched Rosinante for a second and said, "Do you want to do it?"

The office fell quiet, Rosinante watched Tsuru with nothing betraying his feelings. Then he broke eye contact and bowed.

"I apologize, ma'am," he said, "but I have a feeling Captain Bell-Mère would care little for my presence."

"Hmm," she said, but her face said she did not believe that, "well, I will leave tomorrow and tell one of the women she befriended on my ship to do it, then. If you change your mind, just say so."

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "Permission to leave?"

"Granted," Sengoku said immediately, knowing the boy needed some time alone hearing about his friend and idol's survival and retirement. Hell, he knew he had a lot to think about himself.

His face still blank, Rosinante gave another bow and turned to leave. Only he once again forgot about his own height, hit the upper edge of the door and fell backwards. With the elders looking at him exasperated, he rose back up and walked on as if nothing had happened. Tsuru tsk-ed.

"Is that really appropriate, Tsuru?" he asked when the woman turned the chair back toward him. "I know the two of them were friends and he looked up to her, but would it not be better for you to send one of your women instead? After all, she was closer to them on a personal level."

Tsuru just gave him a  _look_. Then she sighed and rose to leave, herself.

"You blind fool," was all she said back.

Sengoku was left very confused.

\----------------------

And perhaps that was supposed to be the end of it. Bell-Mère, with many unfamiliar feelings and in a moment of uncertainty, let everything from her Marine days go. Rosinante, with his conflicting emotions regarding his wants and needs and his duties as a brother, let her and did nothing. They would live their lives, Bell-Mère as a tangerine farmer and mother, Rosinante as a commander and undercover spy in the Donquixote Family. And they would both meet their demise in the form of a pirate's gun.

That was perhaps what it was supposed to end like, but as Rosinante walked outside the marine base to buy a new package of smoke, someone took a hold of his uniform and held him back. He turned to see a woman with brown hair well-knit in a ponytail, with two children behind her legs and carrying all sorts of luggage.

"Pardon me, Mr. Marine," she said, "I am Trafalgar Dans, can you help me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where the canon divergence for CoraBell will begin. Before that, I tried to make it so their relationship was somewhat canon-friendly, and show how they eventually separated without mentioning each other afterward in canon. However, with Trafalgar Dans and her two children at her heels, things might change.


	4. Unions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The butterfly's wings are moving. Rosinante helps the Trafalgar family to East Blue, and reunites with Bell-Mère.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that I did not explaine the names I gave to the original characters yet, mostly because they were sort of lazily found.
> 
> Fille-Bavarde is French for "gossip girl/talkative girl", Vieil-Amour is "old love", while Nounou is "Nanny", at least according to Google Translate. I figured that with Bell-Mère's name being inspired by the French name for "stepmother/mother-in-law", I would keep that tradition alive for my female OCs on Conomi Island, even if I regret Nounou since there are *so many* names in Cocoyasi that start with N. Galen, Dans' husband, is named after the Greek doctor. Dans' name will be explained further in the future along with her secret name.
> 
> Also, I repeat what I wrote in the first chapter: Medical terms, what's that?

"What can I help you with, ma'am?" Rosinante said, nodding to her. He took a look at the two children behind her and waved with what he wanted to be a friendly smile, but it did the opposite. The little girl made a squeaking sound and hid behind her mother's knees, and the boy shot an arm protectively in front of her, glaring at him from beneath his white, black-dotted hat as if he was an enemy. It felt like a raincloud formed over Rosinante, his mood souring even more. Fortunately the mother brought his attention back to her.

"My children and I are looking for safe passage to East Blue," she said, "but the official travel ships between North and East are cancelled for the upcoming months for some reason. I heard it was possible to get more information here... and maybe some assistance?"

Rosinante vaguely remembered the trouble with the North-East Blues transportation, though it was hazy from his mourning of a living woman. What was the trouble, again? Pirates had been attacking the ships and taken the people as slaves to sell, and someone, maybe Momousagi, had revealed it to be a collaboration between the ships' captain and the pirates. Because of how the entire incident had made the Marines look, the World Government ordered a thorough investigation and refused all public cross-oceanic transportation for one month, with the North-East Blues being cancelled for three.

That, or there was a quarantine, he really was not sure what had been going on these last weeks.

The woman - Trafalgar - looked up at him expectedly, and he realized she was waiting for an answer.

"It is true," he said, "the public transportations are closed for a while, but I am not at liberty to say why."

Her polite smile faltered a bit, but she forced it back up again.

"I heard," she began, then looking slightly around, an action that made Rosinante frown in suspicion, "I heard that sometimes the Marine takes civilians onboard their ships when they cross oceans. I-I have money if that is a problem, but I wasn't sure if it was all misinformation or not."

Rosinante raised an eyebrow down at the woman. "Marine ships have been known to take in civilians, yes," he said carefully. A crying eight-year-old lost on a hostile island comforted by an admiral passed his eyes, but he ignored it with a blink. "What are your intentions for crossing the Red Line?"

The woman was quick to fumble through her bag before she brought papers up.

"I am a doctor and scientist from Flevance," she began and gave him the papers with names, marks and signatures. "I have papers that prove I am going to a conference in Vacca Kingdom in East Blue, and I have permission to bring my children on an extended vacation."

He looked at her for a while before he turned his attention to the papers. From what he saw, it seemed to add up with what she said, but something was off. The woman had obvious tells that practically screamed the fact.

"Is there anything else you will be doing in East Blue?" he asked, and it was like every word he spoke made the woman sweat more and more.

"I mean, yes," she said slowly, looking around and down and- she really was not good at lying, was she? "It is a vacation after all, and I couldn't plan a voyage over the Red Line with two children without having a somewhat elaborate plan. But beyond the islands we will visit after the conference, I just can't tell you much, we thought to see what happens."

She was lying. Rosinante frowned and gently moved his arm away from her touch.

"I apologize," he began, "but Marine vessels taking in civilians depend on the one in charge, and so I cannot tell you anything regarding such. Have a nice day, ma'am, children."

He gave a quick bow and kept walking toward the shop. His head was a mess, everything felt dizzy and he really needed that smoke. He was half in mind to buy half the liquor store as he thought about it. He needed something to distract him, something that would just make his brain pause. To stop it from making him think of _her_ and her _death_ and her _survival_ and her-

"Wait, please!"

Rosinante stopped and turned to see the woman lean down to tell something to the children, before she jogged over to where he stood. He felt his eyebrows knit deeper down, and he briefly wished he had sunglasses to hide his features. The woman seemed turned off by his glare, but inhaled and stayed her ground.

"Look," she said, quickly, "There is one thing I am going to do in East Blue that is not on the papers, but it is nothing official or anything." It seemed like she was fighting every survival instinct in her body as she swallowed air before she spoke again. "I need to talk to someone in the World Economic Journal about publishing an article regarding corruption in my country's healthcare."

Rosinante blinked and felt his eyebrows move into a vague frown. She mentioned she was from Flevance, which was famous for its riches and luxuries due to the amber lead production there, and from what he gathered, it had been listed as one of the top three safest and happiest countries in North Blue. The possibility of corruption in its healthcare seemed unlikely.

"You are aware that the Journal has bases in every Blue and part of the Grand Line, right?" he asked, and the woman's face fell. "I suggest you find out where the North Blue chapter is so you can talk to them here."

"I can't," she said without missing a beat. "I mean, we tried to contact other newspapers, but... we figured it would be safer to travel to East Blue and talk to them. The newspaper is the same all over the world, after all."

He looked at her, tried to scan her eyes for anything malicious in her intentions, trying to ignore the headache forming. She looked straight back at him, her eyebrows frowned upward, her hands curled into fists as they subtly shook.

"...I have heard a lot about Flevance," he said at last, "and nothing I heard from there suggests anything foul at place. Furthermore, cross-oceanic travel, in particular over the Red Line, is a risky trip if it is only for paranoia. Not to mention that I have a feeling whatever you are planning could risk breaking a few national laws, or at least irk some powerful people."

The hands began shaking more. Still she stood.

"Are you sure this is something you want to do?" 

"This is something I _have_  to do," she said, and her eyes that had been every form of fearful suddenly lost all traces of said emotion, being replaced by a kind of determination Rosinante had never seen before. It made his heart skip a beat. "Even if I am hurt, I want to look back and know I did what I could do for what I felt was right. If there is a risk in this journey, or if it might have all been for naught..."

It felt like time stopped for Rosinante when she broke eye contact for merely a second to take a new breath. Then she looked back up at him.

"It is a risk I am willing to take."

The two adults stared at each other, the rest of the world seemingly disappearing. Rosinante was at a loss of words. What sort of person could carry this sort of determination? How could she look at this voyage, this long, dangerous and wasteful voyage in front of her, with prospects that obviously scared her well-protected self, and still stand her ground with righteousness?

Rosinante almost felt  _chided_ by the woman's look, like the teenager he was.

"...Go to the transfer office north of here."

Mrs. Trafalgar blinked.

"You will have to be screened first," Rosinante continued, "to make sure you are not on any wanted-lists. Then you and your children will be checked for fleas, I think, and they will have to look through your luggage. But if everything is cleared before the ship leaves, I have no reason to think you'll be rejected."

The woman's eyes lit up and her mouth opened up to a giant grin. She took a step back and bowed deeply.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you so, so much. You have no idea how much this means to us."

Rosinante forced a smile.

The family left him, and he stood still for a while, cigarettes forgotten. His feet moved him back toward the base, his mind on the family, the woman's determination despite the dangers, how she, for only a few seconds, reminded her of Bell-Mère. And then he thought about the red-haired captain.

At some point in their relationship, he had become afraid. Of what she would say to him. Afraid in a way he had not been before regarding people's opinions of him. Sure, he was always worried about being reminded of his surname and brother, and he disliked being called out for nepotism due to his relationship with Sengoku. However, most of those feelings were numbed by sheer exhaustion from the worry, as well as the simple yet effective fact that he did not care what harmless strangers thought about him anymore.

But Bell-Mère was different. He cared, so much it scared him. Whenever he was with her, he was half in mind of telling her everything, or running away to avoid being hurt. Doflamingo kept gaining notoriety and attention, and a woman like Bell-Mère could not possibly be fond of the World Nobles ( _and to be honest, who were?_ ). When Bell-Mère had left for East Blue, the self-preservative voice inside of him won out, silencing him as they said goodbye, fearful of the risk of getting too close when they were about to separate. Then when she turned up alive, the voice had tried again, telling him that it was no use going to her now, when she had not taken the first step like she always did.

_It is too risky. She might have woken up and realized you are not worth of her. That your family might become a danger to her. Or she grew tired of you. Even if she didn't, what will happen if you meet her again? Too many risks, too many risks._

"I will do it," Rosinante told Vice-Admiral Tsuru that day in her temporary office. "I will represent the Marines and see Captain Bell-Mère."

_"It is a risk I am willing to take."_

* * *

 It had taken some extra days, and nerve-pirring ones as Dans waited for the marine that checked their luggage to find her papers on the amber lead disease. Fortunately, she had hidden it well, and even if they had found it... Well, the young man looked like a rookie, young enough to not bother with a 50-page scientific paper that contained too many academic words for his paycheck.

When they got to Law and Lammy's bags, Lammy had started acting weird and told her mother to turn around, and Law just shrugged with a small, knowing smirk. Trusting Law would not join in on anything beyond harmless pranking, Dans complied with Lammy's request. After a while she heard Lammy "shh" toward to the rookie, and the mother could not help but smile when the young man made a "shh" sound back, playing along with whatever game she had made up. When she was allowed to turn around again, she made sure to give the man a smile and nod that conveyed both apologies for her child's antics, and gratefulness for him humoring her.

With everything was cleared, she was given information about the journey and what was expected of her and her children. They were allowed to be on deck outside of training hours, and had to go straight to the safety room if they heard gunshots, cannons or anything that indicated the vessel was entering battle. When they neared Red Line, they had to be inside in a windowless room due to possible government secrets, but the man who informed them of this made sure to say that one of their female soldiers would be with the family and be of assistance should something go wrong.

It was not until they were far out on the sea that Dans felt her shoulders fall down, and she could finally relax. They had made it, they were officially on the way to East Blue after more than two months from Flevance. She tried to calculate how long the rest of the journey would take. She had to see if there were ships from the East Blue Marine base's island that could take her to Vacca, and then the family had to stay there for a week due to the seminars, which were due in another month and a week. If she was lucky, there would be someone from the World Economic Journal there that she could talk to; if not, there would be two extra weeks getting to Scoop Island, where the Journal's East Blue base was. Then, however long it would take for her to get an interview or a lead on how to reach her goal, maybe some days or weeks? After that, they would island hop back toward the Red Line, and by then the civilian cross-ocean vessels were probably back in business.

All in all it would take around five or six months from leaving Flevance to returning, Dans calculated, if nothing else went wrong. She could not help but smile at the idea of returning home. She had never thought much about traveling before, being happy in Flevance with her family and the hospital, and this journey had proved to be quite a shock to her and the children, though fortunately they adapted quicker than her. She could not wait to be back in the White City, see her husband again and give him a long, big hug before they started working on a cure for the amber lead.

The image made Dans chuckle, and she turned to watch the two children on deck. Law was sitting down reading a book, his eyes angry whenever the sun shined into him between the clouds. She had to practically drag him out of the cabin to get some sun, and he had made sure to let her know he was  _very_ unhappy about this. Lammy, on the other hand, seemed to get along with the marine who had initially helped them (the one who said he had nothing to do with the ship but had apparently changed his mind). Lammy introduced him to her two dolls, no longer afraid of him, and he shook each of the dolls' hands and presented himself. They seemed to exchange a few words before Lammy turned a bit around to play by herself, and the man casually saluted goodbye before he rose back to his enormous height. Their eyes met, and he was about to approach her before he tripped on air and fell face first onto the floor. Dans flinched Lammy gaped, Law glared at him with a wrinkled nose like he had suddenly grown a sea cow's head, and the other marines on deck just went on their way as if nothing had happened.

He got himself back up and walked over to her.

"Did Lammy introduce you to her dolls?" Dans asked with a smirk, trying her best to ignore his red nose, and hoped her voice was event from the comical event that had transpired.

"Yes," the young man said with a small smile moving his golden hair from his eyes, "though when I introduced myself as a marine, she said Captain Cashmire would never associate herself with marines because she was the Pirate Queen, so I let her be."

Dans flinched and leaned into her palm. "I'm sorry," she groaned. "The day she got the doll, she heard my friend and I talk about politics and pirates, and we joked that after Gold Roger, there would be a Pirate Queen. At dinner she suddenly introduced the family to Pirate Queen Cashmire who loves money and jungles and-..." Dans gave a nervous smile and tried, "She isn't _actually_ pro-pirate?"

The young man shrugged. "Kids have a lot of creativity, I cannot fault them for that." Dans sighed in relief, feeling weird that she even had to be so nervous around a man probably a decade younger than her.

But at sea, she had realized, power and authority were seldom a matter of age.

There were a few seconds of silence between them before he spoke of another subject.

"So your husband is back in Flevance?"

"Yes," Dans said, her smile falling slightly. "He wanted to stay and take care of the hospital and the patients, as well as look for a cure. We decided to bring the children out of the country for their safety, in case things escalate there."

The young marine raised an eyebrow.

"I do not know if cross-oceanic travels over the Red Line during the Golden Age of Pirates will be safer than in the richest country in North Blue," he said flatly, and if he had not been barely in his twenties Dans might have blushed due to the obvious observation, but as it were, she just laughed nervously.

"It... just felt right." It was not really much else to say. While she and Galen had never expected the world to be as dangerous and pirate-filled as it was, they had both felt that, should everything go wrong in Flevance, they would at the very least make sure their children were safe out of the toxicity of amber lead.

"Sometimes what feels right is not what is best to do," the blonde mumbled, looking down at the ocean with a frown. "Or what must be done."

"Well, you wouldn't know unless you at least tried once, right?"

The man looked at her, his eyes that reminded her so of rosewood betraying a naiveté, short-sightedness and inexperience that Dans remembered she herself bore at his age. Despite his gigantic height, sturdy body and Marine rank, Dans supposed he truly was only a boy, at the end of the day.

As if he could feel her understanding of his weaknesses, he looked away from her, back to the ocean. Eventually, she heard a murmur.

"I hope it will turn out well for you, then."

"Thank you."

They then heard a child's cry, and turned to see that Lammy must have tried to get to her feet, but had fallen straight onto her butt due to the ship moving constantly with the waves And with another reminder that her youngest were still only four, Dans nodded an end to the conversation,

"I will talk to you again, Mr. Marine." And she was about to walk to the girl when the young man's voice spoke again.

"Rosinante." 

Dans turned to look at him, and he repeated.

"My name is Rosinante." 

* * *

"I don't know what you want, Nami," Bell-Mère said, panic slipping through her lips as her throat felt like it was stuck on a knot. The screaming only intensified. "I know you can't speak yet, but, what am I supposed to do? What can I do to make it stop?"

The toddler answered with a shriek, and Bell-Mère flinched and moved her head a little away from the girl, whose  flushed head was leaning onto her shoulder. She had been in the presence of cannonballs and guns for over two three, but this might just be what would make her deaf in the end.

The woman tried to move to see if motion would calm Nami down, but instead she barely managed to avoid falling forward when something held her legs back, and she realized she had forgotten about Nojiko. She looked down to see the girl close to tears herself by the noise, warmth and stress in the room.

"No, no, Nojiko, please," Bell-Mère heard herself beg, trying to lean down to pat her on the head to calm her down, which was hard when that brought Nami's screaming closer to the panicking girl. "Don't start crying now, I need to get Nami to quiet down first, I-"

And Bell-Mère was well aware of how un-characteristic she was being in this state, her hair everywhere, her clothes dirty from many days of usage, face red and warm and tears threatening to escape. Nobody who knew her would ever believe her to be the same bold, brash delinquent who laughed in the face of authority.

But she was twenty years old and she had not had a good night's sleep in two months and she was tired from fixing the farm and her baby was crying and obviously hurting and the other girl was panicking and Bell-Mère _did not know what to do and she was-_

"Bell-Mère-"

" _What_?"

She had not meant to snap at Nounou and Dr. Nako who had just entered, but any apologies were forgotten when Nami let out another shriek, her tongue dotted with black dots visible for the world to see. The shriek was then promptly interrupted by a cough. Nounou sighed and walked to them with her arms open.

"Give her to me," she said, her voice gentle, "You seem like you need a break. Nako, take Bell-Mère and the girl outside."

Bell-Mère wanted to argue by instinct, not wanting to let Nami go to another woman (another _mother_ ) and admit defeat and that she was a bad parent. But she heard Nojiko sniffle again, clearly trying to obey the redhead's previous request, and she handed Nami to Nounou with only slight hesitation. She had to take short steps out of the room so as to not accidentally hit the blue-haired two-year-old still clinging to her pants, or to fall forward  _like a certain giant klutz she-_

Bell-Mère forced that thought far, far away as the door closed and, though the screams were far from gone, quietness overwhelmed her and she gave a small sigh of relief when the fresh air chilled her body, hot from panic and the crying and proximity of an overheating baby on her shoulder.

"Doc," she immediately said and turned to the doctor after inhaling in the chill air, trying hard to force the earlier tears back in again, "what is happening to Nami? I thought she was fine, you said it was okay for her to rest at the farm while I repaired the old house."

A small sweatdrop was forming on the doctor's forehead. "I can't tell you, Bell-Mère," he said, and place his right palm on his forehead to wipe the drop off. "The fever was gone, had been gone for a while. Nami should have been fine with being outside. But these rashes, I have not seen them before." He shook his head, clearly angry at himself for being unable to do anything. Then he sighed.

"She didn't get time to say it, but Nounou came here to tell you that the Marines are here."

Bell-Mère blinked. "What do they want?" she asked, which caused Nako to raise an eyebrow.

"I thought you were the one who said you would be given a medal or something?" he asked, slightly exasperated. "That and some money you promised to Vieil-Amour's kids for the farm?"

The memory hit Bell-Mère and she cursed without thinking. The doctor took a quick look down at Nojiko, who had her face firmly planted onto the woman's legs, as if pretending the world could not see her if she did not see the world. He looked back at Bell-Mère with a judging look, but continued,

"The marine is downstairs, some brat who is too tall for his own safety," he said, pointing at the stairs behind him with his thumb. "Go down and get it over with, I will go check on Nami. Does Nojiko want to join?"

The feeling of tiny fists tightening their hold on her pants gave Bell-Mère the answer. The little girl had yet to speak a single word to anyone but her savior alone. "I think we'll be good like this, Doc, thanks."

The doctor nodded and directed a soft "all right" down to Nojiko before he left them alone in the room. The few seconds the door to Nami and Nounou were open were a cruel reminder of the pain Nami was going through, but when it quieted again, Bell-Mère inhaled and tried to fix her hair and shirt to look at least a bit more presentable to her former colleague. When she was done, she gently lead her hand behind her and took one of Nojiko's hands, so she would let go of her pants. When the girl did, the woman turned to her and kneeled down to smile.

"How do I look, Nojiko?" she asked, and Nojiko looked into her eyes, then moved her dark, deep eyes up and down. Bell-Mère was not expecting an answer, but then she heard a faint voice.

"You're pretty..."

A small burden was lifted from Bell-Mère's shoulders, at least for a while, and the smile turned into a grin as she lead her other hand to pat the girl's blue head.

"Aw, thank you, Nojiko," she said and she saw how Nojiko looked down to hide a smile herself. "We have to go down the stairs, can I carry you down?"

She nodded, and Bell-Mère picked her up from the floor. The girl immediately hugged the woman's neck, but fortunately did not let her hair get in the way when they walked down. Bell-Mère complimented her and said ahead of time when she started descending to the lower floor. She made sure to have her eyes on the stairs, and then back at Nojiko when she laid her down again. Because of that, she had not taken a look at the man representing the Marines who would give her her stuff. Had not really even thought about the familiar silence even if he must have seen her come down.

So when she straightened her back and without thinking about it had her eyes follow the too-tall body of the marine, and was face-to-face with Rosinante, she widened her eyes and gasped.

He had not expected her reaction, it seemed, since his own eyes widened.

"Captain Bell-Mere-" he said and saluted, but miscalculated and hit his eye, hard. "Ow!"

Nojiko immediately bolted for the couch behind Bell-Mère, where she was out of sight for the stranger but could still look at where the woman was. Later, Bell-Mère could never be sure if it was because Rosinante had scared the girl that much to want more distance than her savior could provide, or if she had somehow known that Bell-Mère needed more space. Nevertheless, she appreciated it in hindsight.

Bell-Mère, free to move with longer steps now, immediately approached him. "Are you all right?" She asked, though her voice was not concerned. It fell back to the familiarity of their past, where she always knew he could prevail his own clumsiness. Bell-Mère was not sure whether she missed said familiarity or wanted it gone.

"I'm all right, ma'am," he said and straightened out when he saw her reach out a hand. Then added a mumbled, "Bell-Mere," before she could even open her mouth to remind him, if only out of habit.

She brought her hand down and took a step back. She took a quick look around and noticed a wooden chest by the door. Meanwhile he had stolen a quick look over at the couch, but said nothing.

"So," she said, "they chose you to give me back my stuff?"

"I-" he began, but then looked away and swallowed air before he continued, "Yes."

When he moved, she noticed the small box his left hand had been holding, and he presented it to her.

"The Medal of Valor," he explained and opened it, "As well as the Distinguished Service Medal. Vice-Admiral Tsuru said I should arrange for a small ceremony, but I wasn't sure if you would want that."

"No," she said and just took the case from Rosinante's hands, barely more polite than snatching it off him. Bell-Mère snapped the case shut. She realized she cared little for the medals, or her actions that deemed her worthy of them, or the memories thinking about those services brought. "That won't be necessary, thanks. I... have my hands full right now."

"I see. I will tell them you accepted them with grace."

"Thanks."

Silence reigned the room. Rosinante stole another glance toward the couch, and his eyes met the girl's for half a second before she hid again.

"Hey," Bell-Mère said, and she felt some shame creeping up considering who she was talking to, "I heard there would be some extra money with the medals, and compensation for the K.I.A. report. Do you know where...?"

Rosinante blinked, but to his credit let no other emotions out. Bell-Mère briefly wondered if he had always been that good at hiding them, or if she had just gotten used to him lowering his guard around her. Before she left the Marines.

"They were placed inside the chest," he said and nodded to the chest behind him, "but I don't know how much it is."

"Well, it will be enough," Bell-Mère said, thought wanted to slap her lips for letting the words out. "Thanks."

They were quiet for some seconds before the man spoke again.

"...How have you been?"

The woman could not answer immediately, just looked at Rosinante. She was not even sure what to feel right now, or how to explain in words how she had been these last months.

"It has been hectic," she said cautiously, and wished she could summon her boldness back for this confrontation. "But I've been good. Very good. And you?"

He stood frozen on the spot, and Bell-Mère was regretting the question.

Rosinante opened his mouth, the words maybe rougher than he had intended, "I thought you were-"

The sound of the shifting weights on stairs stopped him from continuing, and both adults looked to where the steps came from. Nojiko darted from her safe spot and to Bell-Mère's legs. Rosinante took a longer glance at the girl while she hid her face.

Nako and Nounou came downstairs, Nounou's face red and tired. That was when Bell-Mère realized the faint crying that had been following her and Nojiko since they left Nami's room were completely gone.

"She exhausted herself," Nounou said as if she knew what the younger woman was thinking. "Taking a break to sleep, hopefully she will feel better when she wakes up. You can go to her now, but be quiet."

Rosinante forgotten, Bell-Mère had started moving before Nounou even finished talking. She quickly picked up Nojiko, who obediently let herself be carried and held her arms around her neck like before, and the two of them hurried up and to the room Nami was sleeping.

It felt like the "old days", the way the baby was silently sleeping on the bed, with Nojiko standing by as a vigil. Bell-Mère sighed in relief when she saw that the girl was still alive, though the baby's face was still uneasy. Nami was in pain and Bell-Mère could no nothing-

"...A-ah," Rosinante said lowly with a stutter, and Bell-Mère turned to see that he had followed her upstairs, "so that's what Ms. Fille-Bavarde meant."

_NO._

"When and what?" Bell-Mère asked quickly, her voice surprisingly controlled even if her eyes darkened.

"I asked around for your location when we docked, and she was... helpful." The way he rolled his lips inward indicated the total opposite, though. He then gestured toward the baby sleeping in the bed behind Bell-Mère. "She insinuated you had been lying about where "the tiny one" came from and asked if I was the father." His cheeks turned red. "I... was a little confused."

_God damn it, Fille-Bavarde!_

The redhead groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. She needed a smoke. "I'm sorry," she gritted between her teeth. "She speaks a lot of shit and has a bit mouth."

She turned to look fondly at Nami and spoke gently, "Nami isn't mine-... or, you know." Bell-Mère shrugged and turned back to look at Rosinante. "I didn't give _birth_ to her, but she _is_ mine. Nojiko, too," she added and patted Nojiko, who was back to hiding behind her, though without burying her face. "They are _both_  my girls."

Rosinante let his mouth open slightly, trying to find words to say as his eyes darted between the woman and the child. "Ah, I see," he said at least, then closed his lips, rolling the lower one inward. "It... seems like there is a lot to talk about."

_"I guess we'll have a lot to talk about when I return," she said, a slight hope in her voice._

"Yeah," the redhead said looking down, smiling weakly at the turn of events. "A lot."

Yet a deadly silence governed the room, both of the adults avoiding each other's gaze. Then Nami started coughing, and with a squeak from Nojiko, Bell-Mère was by the toddler's side. She gently placed her palm on Nami's forehead and checked around, looking to see if the red dots covering her body somehow had an answer. When the little girl quieted down, she sighed in relief. Then she remembered the man in the room, who had politely turned his gaze elsewhere to give her some space.

"She's sick," Bell-Mère said, with a weakness and worry that must have surprised Rosinante by the way he turned to look at her with widened eyes. "We thought it was just a cold or something, but she has only gotten worse, and she has these red dots everywhere. Doc thinks it might be a virus from the island I found her in, but we can't be sure and he doesn't have anything but the basic medicine here right now, most of it too strong for babies."

She placed her right hand onto the little girl's red cheek, caressing it. That was when she realized she was shaking.

"Rosinante, I'm..." _I'm scared_ , she wanted to say, but she could not. Not in front of Nojiko.

Bell-Mère felt a warm hand on her left shoulder, and without thinking, she leaned against it and sighed. She had missed his presence, she realized.

They were like that for a while.

"We have a doctor from Flevance on the ship," Rosinante spoke at last. "She is going to Vacca Kingdom, and is apparently an accomplished doctor." He quickly looked over to the door they had entered from before looking back at Bell-Mère. "I mean no disrespect to your doctor, but do you want her to take a look at Nami? Just to be sure?"

And just like that, it was like Bell-Mère was able to breathe again.

"Yes, please."

Rosinante was gone half an hour, but returned with a woman in her late twenties or early thirties, her brown hair in a braid behind her, and she carried a case into the room.

She gently placed the case down when she was close enough to Bell-Mère, and offered her hand.

"I am Trafalgar Dans," she said, her dark brown eyes gentle but her voice firm and professional. Bell-Mère took the hand. "Is that the patient?"

"Yes," the redhead said and let the doctor walk to the bed with Nami in it. Dans opened her case and started examining the girl, sometimes with the items, other times with just her hands, every move deliberate and not wasting a second. Even Nojiko poked her head from around Bell-Mère's legs to take a look at how the woman worked.

After some minutes, the woman rose up from her chair and looked at Bell-Mère.

"I cannot guarantee it without proper equipment, but I am 97% sure it is Scarlet Fever. The rash and her strawberry tongue is very telling."

The unfamiliarity to the name made Bell-Mère's heart drop.

"Is that bad?"

"It can be, especially because she is... nine, ten months old?" The woman gave a small smile. "However, I brought with me antibiotics that should be helpful, if needed. I also have some ointments that should help with the red rash a little. I will talk to your doctor about what he thinks first."

Dr. Trafalgar then smiled down to Nojiko, who immediately hid her face back into Bell-Mère's legs. "With the exception of the sister, has the family been in contact with any other children at 15 or younger these last weeks?"

Bell-Mère tried to remember, but realized quickly that she barely remembered anything.

"I..." she started, looking down in shame, "I'm not sure, I don't think so."

She had expected the doctor to look annoyed, but instead, when Bell-Mère turned her head up, she merely smiled understandingly. "Your girls have to be quarantined for roughly two weeks, to be on the safe side," she said, "and your older one also needs some medicine to avoid contagion. I'll also consul with your doctor about what he should buy next time he meets with his traders, just in case more children will show symptoms in the future."

"But she's safe, right?" Bell-Mère hurried to ask, searching the other woman's eyes. "Nami will be fine?"

Again the woman smiled at Bell-Mère. "Yes, she will be fine now, but without the antibiotic it could have gone really bad, and-"

Bell-Mère hurried to cough when she felt the tiny, shaking hands on her pants tighten their hold, and she nodded to Nojiko's direction to cue the doctor in. The latter immediately blushed.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said quickly, "I am not good with watching my mouth around kids, it's a real problem with my youngest."

"It's all right."

"Well, then," the woman said, inhaling. "Let us get to work, shall we?"

During the hours the two doctors and Nounou talked and gave Nami and Nojiko the needed medicine, Bell-Mère briefly wondered if Rosinante would be troubled by the Marines for taking this long on the island, when they were originally only supposed to give her the medals and probably leave. The thought quickly left, her mind occupied when Nami woke up and started crying. To her credit, Trafalgar Dans only smiled and continued the treatment while comforting the child.

"I have two children myself," was all she said. And Bell-Mère almost wanted to snatch Nami from the other mother's arms when she knew.

When the sun was setting, Nami looked much better, and was actually smiling in Bell-Mère's lap, which she also noticed seemed to ease Nojiko's mind, the way she also grinned in relief even if no words were said in the doctors' presence.

"Thank you," Bell-Mère said and looked up to Dans, who just smiled back.

"It was my pleasure," she said, "I have been traveling so much lately that it was nice to be a doctor again, and to talk with other doctors, too. My son is smart for his age, but it was a delight to speak with Dr. Nako and exchange information."

"I doubt a quack from a tiny village in East Blue can compare much to you, though," Bell-Mère said, her tone containing humor and no malice. Dans knew and chuckled.

"Nonsense," she said, "I have only been in Flevance my whole life, and theory can only get me so far. Listening to Dr. Nako's experiences with East Blue was wonderful, I assure you."

Bell-Mère was not sure how to respond to the woman's politeness, having herself been hanged up by Tsuru for lacking manners too many times, so instead she just smiled. Dans gave a polite cough almost as if to move to a new topic.

"I was curious, though," she said, "where Nami is from? Dr. Nako said there hasn't been anything like Scarlet Fever on these islands as far as he or Nounou knows, so I assumed she was not from here."

Bell-Mère frowned, not sure how much she should tell. But something about Dans made her feel like she could trust her. "I found them on an island on the southern part of East Blue," she said. Dans only blinked once at the "found" part, but her frown at the sentence itself worried Bell-Mère. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Ah, no, I guess not," Dans said, smiling. "Scarlet Fever is a huge problem on the other Blues, so it always fascinated me how it seemed to not be well-known in East Blue. I thought people here might be immune, but I guess not. That's all."

"Okay," Bell-Mère said, feeling herself relax a little.

"Well, my things are packed and my children are probably tearing the Marine ship apart, so I will just go wash up and leave."

"Rosinante said you were going to Vacca Kingdom?"

"Ah, yes, to a conference." Dans had said it too quickly, and blinked too many times as she spoke. Bell-Mère frowned for a second at the hints of lying, but said nothing. She owed Dans, and Rosinante trusted her, so she would let it go.

"Well, on your way back to North Blue, don't be shy," she said instead, smiling. "We won't have much, but if our house is up, I can at least serve you some tangerine tea."

"That would be lovely, thank you." Dans then looked at Nojiko and kneeled down to her eye level. To Nojiko's credit, she did not hide behind Bell-Mère, only grabbed her shirt. "Nojiko, you will have to be in this house for a while, which I know can be super-boring for such a energetic, smart girl like you. But you will be with your little sister, so make sure you watch over her while she recovers, all right?"

Bell-Mère raised her arm to get a look at Nojiko, and felt her heart warm up with pride when the little girl nodded. "Good! It was nice to meet you, Nojiko." She got up to her feet and nodded to Bell-Mère. "Bell-Mere."

And thus the woman walked out of the room, but before the door closed it opened again and Dans' voice was heard.

"Ah, Mr. Rosinante! I think she can speak with you now, if you want to."

And Bell-Mère's heart raced, realizing that after he had brought Dans to Nami, Rosinante had not spoken a single word and made himself practically invisible. And she realized that, with Dans now done, they might leave now. It was close to night, but the full moon brightened the dark seas and the waters were calm. This might be the last time they saw each others again.

She felt then small hands push her forward, and though they did little against her bigger body, Bell-Mère looked down to see Nojiko. She had let go of her shirt, and looked up to her.

"Go," she said with a low voice, "I'll watch over Nami."

Bell-Mère might just have bawled at her little girl's thoughtfulness, but instead just blinked hard to force the tears back and patted her head. "Thank you, Nojiko," she said, grinning. "If you need anything, just knock on the door... or call my name, all right?"

"Mhm." She nodded.

Bell-Mère walked over to the door, and almost collided into Rosinante. Thankfully, he had forgotten his own height and his head hit the door frame instead, causing him to fall backwards. She could not help but laugh while she closed the door behind her. She offered her hand and he accepted it, and the few seconds it took for him to get up, it felt just like the old days.

"Thank you," she said when he was done preening his salt-filled blonde hair back in place. "Dr. Dans saved Nami's life, I think. I was so... I was scared of what could happen to her, you have no idea."

"It was the least I could do," Rosinante said, and for some seconds, they just looked into each other's eyes, both smiling with a hint of force.

"Oh, congratulations on becoming Lieutenant, by the way" she then said, remembering his new rank. His smile eased.

"Thank you."

_"Hey," she said, and her other hand reached for Rosinante's cheek, guiding him to look at her. "Next time we meet, you'll be a lieutenant, right? I heard from Tsuru."_

_Rosinante's lips twitched upward ever so little, but he said nothing._

_"I guess we'll have a lot to talk about when I return," she said, a slight hope in her voice._

_"Yes," the blonde said lowly, "a lot."_

But no more words broke out between them. They eventually broke the eye contact, Bell-Mère looking toward the window and thinking she  _really_ needed a smoke while Rosinante glanced over her shoulder, to the room her daughters were resting in.

After another minute of silence like this, Rosinante broke it.

"The ship is probably waiting for me."

"A-ah, right," Bell-Mère said, somehow forgetting about the ship yet was relieved for the break, "I... guess you'll have to go."

"Yes." He coughed quickly and walked toward the stairs. "It... was nice to see you, Bell-Mère. Alive."

"...Heh, nice to see you, too, Rosinante."

And as if that was all that needed to be said, even if it was far, _far_ from it, Rosinante took a steady hold on the rail and walked down the stairs, from her sight. She still heard a clear "ow!" after, which made her chuckle. But it was only when the door downstairs was closed that she felt she could breathe.

She waited another minute before she approached the window, just in case she could still see him through it. Then she opened the glass, fished out the carton of cigarettes from her pocket, and sighed in relief when she could inhale from it. It was only for a few minutes, then she would go straight back to Nami and Nojiko. Even with the latest development, she knew Nojiko still did not like to be far from her. She was sure she would still bolt for her legs for some more weeks, maybe, holding gently but firmly onto a piece of reachable shirt or pants and walking so close to her legs the woman would almost trip. Bell-Mère chuckled, the action letting out small puffs of smoke between her teeth. She briefly wondered if that was the sort of invisible obstacle Rosinante faced whenever he walked.

Rosinante.

Bell-Mère's smile fell, and she looked down at her cigarette. In the end, the long talk they had promised twice now had never come, even when she could tell that Rosinante had many questions he wanted to ask, and Bell-Mère had wanted to explain to him what she was thinking, why she suddenly quit the Marines rather than ask for a leave, or why she had not told him anything beyond presenting the girls. She had wanted to tell him about the war, the desolation, the hopelessness she had felt before it was all numbed by acceptance for death. How a baby's laughter had awakened her and how the sight of two survivors had brought her back to the world. How he was no longer the only one of the two with nightmares at safe nights.

But in the end, nothing had been said between them. Bell-Mère was not sure who to blame, or if she should place any blame at all. Rosinante by nature was a very passive person, his eyes telling many things but his lips letting little pass. She had always taken the initiative, either by her own wants or after looking into his eyes and seeing the silent requests. Bell-Mère should have known that this time would be the same, that Rosinante would not do or say anything unless she took the first step. But she had found herself frozen as well, not knowing where to begin, or how to explain so it made sense outside of her own head. So he could understand her intentions and accept her and her family despite his qualms about having one. To maybe even become a _part_ of it.

Bell-Mère frowned when she realized her sight was being blurred by tears, and moved her free hand to wipe them away. Then she heard the door downstairs slam open, and footsteps rapidly approaching the stairs. She blinked, stopping herself from reaching for a gun she did not have, and looked up just in time to see Rosinante at the top of the stairs. He was leaning against the wall, breathing a bit uneven from the running, but was looking at her straight in the eye. His eyebrows were down in a determined frown, though she noticed they moved erratically up and down, as if unsure whether to feel willful, hopeful or scared.

"Rosinante, what-"

"My name," he breathed, cutting her off, "is Donquixote Rosinante."

_"I guess we'll have a lot to talk about when I return."_

He had never said his full name in front of her. People knew, of course, and he would say it when it was necessary. But still. Bell-Mère widened her eyes, the hand holding her cigarette falling down. Rosinante kept her gaze as he continued with a shaking voice:

"Donquixote Doflamingo is my brother."

_"Yes... a lot."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From what I read about scarlet fever, it usually attacks children between 5-15 years old, so Nami is probably too young really to get it, but it was a childhood disease I found that I thought I could write somewhat about in order for Bell-Mère to meet Dans. But it is still very messy and really, I think I made up 80% of the stuff in there. But... it did its job, I guess. Dans' question about Nami's origins was both an excuse to why this scarlet fever was weird and only Nami got it, but also a hopeful jab at Oda for one day diving deeper into Nami's origins and Bell-Mère's story like he did with Sanji. Because if he can make a mystery about why a cabin boy lived his life before it got ruined, he sure can make a story about the war baby!Nami was in.
> 
> I honestly somewhat completely forgot just how YOUNG Bell-Mère and Rosinante are at this part of the story. 20 and 19, and I just realized how inexperienced they must be, despite the legal age of adulthood in the OP World probably being pretty low. And then I realized that Bell-Mère took in two children, a toddler and a girl probably old enough to be affected by the war, and just went along with it. Me at 20 could barely fathom the idea of having work-related responsibilities or babysitting over my nieces, and here she is taking in two children on her own! Same with Rosinante, honestly, I guess I tried to write both of them as fairly stoic and mature, forgetting how young they actually are. Meanwhile, I am writing Dans almost as a bit younger than them, I feel, despite her having to be *at least* 28 in this story. It helps that she is not experienced with the world outside of Flevance, so she is always a bit over her head, nervous and distracted. Still, I will try to keep their ages a bit more in mind in the future.


End file.
